Thousands of domestic workers and cleaners have been on strike and marching in the streets of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities since the beginning of January.
The domestic workers and their union Bondgenoten FNV are demanding:
- A new collective agreement that covers not only domestic workers under agency employment but also under individual employers;
- Full recognition of domestic workers as workers with access to social security such as pensions, paid sick leave and paid vacation;
- Ratification of ILO Convention 189 [1] by the government
Although some actions continue, negotiations have resumed with the hope of reaching an agreement soon.
Solidarity messages have been conveyed to the striking workers from the International Network of Domestic Workers, IDWN
While domestic workers are on strike in the Netherlands for a new collective agreement, in Italy FILCAMS-CGIL has together with the employers' association and the ministry of labour revised the minimum wage for domestic workers in line with the cost of living increase. This is in accordance with the Italian national collective agreement for domestic workers that stipulates annual wage revisions